Union City Mayor and state Sen. Brian Stack is apparently a loyal guy.

Stack’s pollster, John McLaughlin of McLaughlin & Associates, drew all kinds of bad headlines last week for being so very wrong in the race that shook the Republican Party.

McLaughlin’s poll showed House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia with a 34-point lead over his little-known GOP primary opponent, David Brat. Brat shocked everyone and beat Cantor by 11 points.

Stack (D-Hudson) told The Auditor one bad poll should not make or break a pollster, and he’ll stick with McLaughlin.

“I’ll tell you one thing: I’ve been using him probably 16 years. He’s probably done that many polls for me, too,” Stack said.

Stack didn’t have to worry about polling this year. He was unopposed in his race for Union City mayor. Stack said McLaughlin also polls for him on issues, as well as Union City commissioners’ election prospects.

“He’s always been on target,” Stack said. “Always.”

According to McLaughlin’s website, the firm has also polled for outgoing U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan (R-3rd Dist.), former Bayonne Mayor Joseph Doria, former Jersey City mayors Jerramiah Healy and Bret Schundler, and former Gov. Donald DiFrancesco.

WILL ROMANO RUN FOR HEAD HONCHO IN HOBOKEN

When Hudson County Freeholder Anthony “Stick” Romano won the Democratic primary despite losing the support of the county party this month, local politicos started talking about the next potential race.

Romano, they said, is considering running for mayor of Hoboken in 2017.

“Everybody was against him on this. He was running off the line,” said Jamie Cryan, the Hoboken Democratic chairman. “I do think he’s thinking about it.”

Romano wouldn’t go as far as Cryan but told The Auditor he was “honored’ people are talking about it.

“I just got elected to the position of freeholder, and my concentration is going to be on fulfilling my duties and obligations as freeholder,” he said.

Despite Romano’s friendly relations with local power players, the Hudson County Democratic Organization backed Phil Cohen, an attorney who was the choice of Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

But Romano — who flirted with a run against Zimmer last year — beat Cohen by 16 points. Hoboken does not have term limits, and there’s no telling if Zimmer — who just won re-election and did not respond to The Auditor’s request for comment — will run again.

ELECION WATCHDOG GROWLS AT MIDDLESEX PAC

A political action committee The Star-Ledger revealed as part of a network to get around state and local pay-to-play laws is in hot water with the state’s campaign finance watchdog.

The Election Law Enforcement Commission earlier this month issued a seven-count complaint against the Raritan Bay Leadership Fund for being late in filing several campaign finance reports from 2009.

There are dozens of potential violations, each carrying a maximum fine of $6,800 — though ELEC almost never imposes such large penalties.

The fund — which closed up shop last year — was one of 10 Middlesex County political action committees that took money from contractors and gave it to candidates in local towns where in many cases they would have been banned from contributing directly.

The Raritan Bay Leadership Fund was one of several The Star-Ledger found that has ties to Assemblyman John Wisniewski; it paid an aide in his legislative office to do paperwork. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) has denied he had anything to do with any of the PACs.

The Auditor attempted to contact the fund’s acting treasurer, Shawn Taylor. The phone number and address he provided on an ELEC form were for the New Brunswick law firm Shamers, Shipers & Lonski. A secretary at the firm said nobody with that name works there. An attorney at the firm who used to be the PAC’s treasurer, David Lonski, did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.

NOW THAT WOULD BE AN AWKWARD RIDE

The Archdiocese of Newark could be in for a surprise when its bus sets off from Lyndhurst to Washington on Thursday for the “March for Marriage.”

After the archdiocese advertised the bus ride on Twitter, a user on the link-sharing website Reddit — which touts itself as “the front page of the internet” — highlighted it.

“Anyone want a free trip to DC June 19th? Pretend you oppose marriage equality and hop on this bus from Lyndhurst,” wrote a user who goes by the name But_Wait_Theres_More.

But based on the responses, there may be no takers from Reddit, whose users tend to skew very much in favor of gay marriage.

“A BoltBus ticket from NYC to DC is what.....$30?” wrote user Rabidcoyote, who referred to the anti-gay marriage marchers with a term The Auditor is not able to use. “I think I’d pay that not to sit with these (people) for an extended period.”

Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said he read the Reddit post. “I just have to say that it’s sad, and leave it at that,” he said.